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She jumped on her bed and pulled her blanket up over her face. And tried not to breathe.
Grandfather pushed the door open and stood there staring at her for a very, very long time.
She didn’t take another breath until his shadow was gone, and she heard him opening Orion’s door just down the hall.
She did it! Now, she just had to write the perfect letter.
52
Five days yielded nothing.No sign of the van, no sign of the two men involved, no ransom notes, no threats, nothing. Everyone was still looking. And on high alert.
But this woman, this stubborn redheaded creature, had absolutely no business being back at work right now.
Zoey studied the woman in front of her, looking for signs that Sydney was doing more than she should. She was pale and a little wobblier than normal, but Sydney was on her feet. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m going out of my mind. I had to get out of there. Melody was driving me crazy. And Melody refuses to let memovehalf the time. I can’t just sit still, under a blanket on Melody’s couch. With her watching me like that. Brynna wasn’t much better. Brynna and Jillian are both weepy balls of hormones right now. And they are weeping overme.” Sydney’s eyes widened, and she shivered. “My sisters are insane. I’m absolutely certain of it.”
“They just love you. And you scared us all.”
“Oh, I can imagine exactly how they felt. Been there, remember that. Won’t ever forget or take a sister’s pain lightly. But the way those women werehovering,I felt like I was thirteen again and getting my period for the first time—and getting therealtalkfrom Mel, with Brynna and Jillian weighing in.”
Zoey remembered giving that particular talk to her own little sister. And Pen’s questions.Allof Pen’s questions. She shuddered. “So why did you call me over here?”
“To get the scoop about what happened after my little excitement. I heard you had some of your own. About six foot four, exceptionally hot, blond, wild man type excitement. Stayed with you for a full night, I heard. Please tell me you took him home with you and seriously jumped his bones. That something good came from my little adventure. Only live once, you know?”
Zoey’s cheeks immediately flamed, and she cursed the pale skin she’d inherited from somewhere. Sydney snickered. “So…spill.”
“We worked on potential suspects for who stabbed you.” For a while. Several hours. Until she had ended up more frustrated than she wanted to think about. Then she’d turned.
Or he had.
She couldn’t really remember.
And then his mouth had been on hers.
She was almost certain they hadn’t come up for hours. Until she’d lost her shirt, and he’d lost his, and they were going hot and heavy right there on what had once been her office floor.
Had her phone not rang with Pen in the middle of a panic attack and needing Zoey to calm her down, sheprobablywould have removed that man’s jeans, too.
This was happening far too fast for her to even think about.
“There is nothing to tell. Well, we may have shared a few very hot kisses—details I will not be sharing—until Pen called. I ended up spending a few hours on the phone with her. She was freaking.”
“Ouch. Don’t tell her she interrupted you making out with Murdoch,” Sydney said. “I think she’s got her fingers crossed you two get married and live happily ever after and give her lots of little siblings to love.”
“That isn’t going to happen.” That was one thing she knew she was definitely not ready for.
The idea of marriage and kids someday had been there. Before the theater shooting. Theoretically. Abstractly.
She had never imagined that becoming a reality.
“Definitely not with Murdoch Lake.” But had she said that for Sydney—or for herself? Zoey didn’t know. “He slept in Pen’s bed. Then took off early that next morning to go chase down rogue cows on the south side of town.”
Making Cowboy Murdoch Michael jokes as he’d left—after he’d kissed the hell out of her in her kitchen, the cat that wasn’t either of theirs watching his every move. He’d made her French toast first. And followed it with French kisses.
Damn him. He had turned her world a little sideways here.
She hadn’t seen him in five days.
